Safety unlocking device



.April 22 1924.

H. S. HART ET AL SAFETY UNLOCKING DEVICE Filed June 16 1922 Patented Apr. 22, 1924i.

umresr HARRY s. HAIR-T, on CHICAGO,

aox-rnornnmmx, or noivr nann, Ann winninragin;

monnv, or o'nIoAGo, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY U n ooK me DEVICE;

Application filed June 16, 1922 Serial No. 568,824.

To all whom it may concern:

JOHN O. NEIKIRK, .and WILLIAM E. 'MoRnY, citizens of the United States, residingxat Chicago, Cook County, Lombard, Du Page County, and Chicago,..Cook County, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Unlocking De-' vices, of which thefollowingis a specification.

This invention relates to a new'and improved unlocking device and more particularly to a safety unlocking device adapted for use in connection with car door operat- "ing shafts. V I

In a number of types of door opening and closing and locking mechanism now in use upon dump cars and hopper cars, the mechanism is so designed that it iszmoved past a dead center in closing and locking. In

these cars the Weight of material in the can thrusts against the doors and consequently as soon as" the operating mechanism has been moved past the dead center upon its opening movement, there is a tendency for the material to cause the'doors to swing open with a rush. This tendency imparts a sudden shock 'to the operating mechanism as that mechanism passesthe dead center. This" results not only in injury tothe mechanism but in danger to the 'person operating the mechanism. I

"In 'g'eneral,"the shafts of such operating mechanisms arefformed of difierent crosssections at different portions of their length in order to facilitate the attachment of the operating 'partsand the elements necessary for retaining such' shafts in place. Such shafts are materially more expensive to manufacture than shafts of a single simple cross-section throughout. A a

It is an ob'ect of he present invention to provide an additional mechanism in cooperation wi-th the dooroperating and closing I mechanism of these types, this additional mechanism serving to prevent the sudden shock being transmitted to the operating lever or wheel and to the operator.

Itis a further object to provide means whereby the door operating'mechanism may move forward free from the operating wheel or lever when the mechanism passes its dead center. V

It'is also an'object' to provide mechanism of this character adapted 'fo'r use with shafts thereto;

larger. scale and partly in section showing V I of uniform cross-section and adapted "to re Be it known that we," HARRY vS. HART,

isting installations without material.- alteration thereof. v

Other and further objectswill appear as the description proceeds. h v Broadly, our invention comprises members in combination with. a .car door operating shaft, these members being associated with the shaft in, such manner as to be adapted to positively rotate the shaftand further to permit rotation of the shaft iiri advance of. the movement imparted by the members. In the preferable form, it func-- tions in this manner in either direction of operation. Further the members'are adapted for use'with a shaft of: uniform crosssection. and the means connecting the mechanism to the shaftalso serves to retain the shaft in place.

We have illustrated apreferred'embodr" 'ment of our invention in the accompanying.

drawings, in which. 7 v

Figure 1 is a fragmentary section of: a hopper car showing the door operating mechanism with our' invention applied Figure 2 is a transverse section-showing. the mechanism ofFigure 1; 1-

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view. on a our safety unlocking device; and

Figure 4 is a'section taken on line Mfof Figure 3.- f' I In order to illustrate the application of our invention, we have shown-it in association with a door operating mechanism'whiclfi is old in the art and which is no part of the present invention. The portion o-flthe car as shown comprises the carsills 6, the car floor 7 and hopper bottom 8. The hopper door 9 is hinged at 10 adjacent the floor portion 7. The car door operating shaft 11 is carried in hangers 12 below the hopper bottom 8. 'Rigidly connected to the shaft 11 is the arm 13 which'is connected by links 14 and 16 to the bolt 17 The bolt 17 is connected tothe hopper door 9 through bracket The ratchet-tooth member 19 is secured to ber 19.

serve to engage opposite faces of the hanger 12 to retain the shaft in place. 7 The pawl 21 is pivoted to the hanger 12 at 22 and is adapted to engage the ratchet-teeth on mempawl may be engaged by the dog 24 which is pivoted at 25'to thehanger 12, this dog serving to lock the pawl in place against the ratchet-wheel.

' This mechanism as so far described is old and as stated, forms no part of the present invention. In the construction as heretofore used, the shaft 11 would be rotated by a wheel or lever positively connected to the end of the shaft.

According to our invention, the ratchet drive member 19 has a sleeve portion fitting the shaft and a flange portion provided with an axially facing circular recess 26. The

'-- axially extending lug 28 projects from the inner face of the recess, the lug having both of its lateral faces extending on radial lines.

The operating member 29 is fitted over the end of the shaft 11 and faces the ratchet A; member. The member 29 is held in place by means of'the washer 30 and pin 31. inner face of the member 29 carries the axially extending lug 32,- the lateral faces of which are upon radial lines.

When assembled, as shown in Figure 3, the lug 32 is adapted to coact with the lug 28. The size and relation of the lugs is such that the operating member 29 may be rotated upon the shaft 11 in either direction the greater portion of a full circumferencebefore the lugs are engaged. The outer portion of the operating member 29 is squared as indicated at 33 in Figure 4: and is thus adapted to receive an operating lever or wrench.

In closing the car door, the operating member 29' is ,rotatedin the clockwise direction as'seen in Figure 1. The member rotates freely until lug 32 engages the lug 28 and then the shaft 11- is caused to rotate with the member 29. The rotation of the shaft swings the arm 13 in the clockwise direction andthe links are brought to the position shown in Figure 1, the door being fully closed. It is to be understood that during this operation, the dog 24 is out of engagement with the pawl 23 and hence the pawl coacts with the member 19 to have a ratchet action preventing back slip of the door. When the door is fully closed, the links and arm form'a holdingtrain which is past a dead center. That is, if the pawl is released from the member .19, direct thrust bv the door 9 will not open the door. In order to open the door, it is necessary The outer heavier end 23 of the The memes As soon as the holding train passes its dead 'center,-the thrust of the material against the door 9 or the weightof thedoor itself, if the car is empty, serves toexertfa pull upon the shaft 11 tending to continue its rotation in the counterclockwise direction until the door is fully opened. If the car is fully loaded with easy flowing material,

considerable shock will be impartedtothe shaft at the instant of passing the dead cen-. ter. This pull upon the shaftwill cause it to rotate and the lug 28 will leave the lugz 32 and continue in advance until the dooris.

open. No pull will beimparted to the mem ber 29 or to any operating handle or wrench connected thereto. The amount of cireumferential clearance between. the lugs 28 and 32 is ample to permit the shaft 11 to rotate sufiiciently to permit, the door to fully open without bringing the lug 28 against the op posits side of the lug 32. I Y

The pin 20 serves both to retain the member 19 upon the shaft and the washer 15 in fixed relation. upon themember 19..

These two members serve to engagelthe hanger to maintain the shaft 11 in. place. Removal of the'pin 20 serves to disconnect the member 19 from the shaft andalso" to permit removal of the shaft from the car. It is to be understood that our invention is adapted for'use in connection with various other door operating mechanisms, one such mechanism having been shownfor purposes of illustration only; Further our apparatus is capable of modification to adapt ating shaft, a member fitted uponthe shaft,

means fitted to said memberadapted tocooperate with said member to maintain the member in fixed relation to a shaft. hanger, and meanssecuring said cooperating means within the scope of the appended it to varying constructions and it is our' 7 U 7 1. In combination with a car door operto the member and securing the memberin fixed relation to the shaft, an axially=projecting lug carried by said member, an operating member rotatably carried by the shaft and having an axially extending lug adapt;

ed to coast with the lug on the fixed memberto positively rotate the shaft and to permit rotation of the shaft in advance of move ment of the operating member.

2. In combination with a car door oper ating shaft, a member fixed to'the shaft, said member having a sleeve portion fitting the shaft and a radialflange portion, a securing member fitted on said sleeve portion, means adapted to position the securing memher on the sleeve portion whereby said radial flange portion and securing member are adapted to position the shaft relative to a shaft hanger, a lug on said flange portion, an operating member rotatably carried by the shaft, a lug on said member, the two lugs each extending through a relatively small portion of the circumference of the members and adapted to engage each other,

whereby to positively rotate the shaft, and to permit rotation of the shaft in advance of movement of the operating member.

3. In combination with a car door operating shaft, 3, member fixed to the shaft, said member having a sleeve portion fittingthe shaft and a radial flange portion, a holding washer carried on said sleeve portion, and a retaining member adapted to secure the fixed member to the shaft and to, retain the holding washer upon the sleeve portion, the. flange portion and holding washer being adapted to engage opposite faces of a hanger ating-member rotatably carried'by the shaft and having av lug adapted to coact with thelug on the sleeve portionto operatively connect said members, and a retaining inem-' ber adapted to secure the fixed member to the shaft'and to retain the holding washer upon the sleeve portion, the flange portion and holding washer being adapted to engage opposite faces of a hanger to retain the shaft in place therein,

5. In combination with a car door oper- '7 ating shaft, a member fixed to the shaft, said member having a sleeve portion fitting the shaft and aradial flange portion, a

holding washer carried on said sleeve'por- .tion, a lug on said flange portion, an operating member rotatably carried by the shaft,

a lug on said member, the two lugs each extending through a relatively small ortion of the circumference of the mem ers and adapted to engage each other, whereby to positively rotate the shaft, and to permit rotation of the shaft in advance of movement of the operating member, and a retaining member adapted to securethe fixed member to the shaft and to retain the holding washer upon the sleeve portion, the flange portion and holding'wa'sher-being adapted to engage opposite faces of a hanger to retain the shaft in place therein.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 9th day of June, 1922.

HARRY s. HART. JOHN o. NEIKIRK, WILLIAM MOREY. 

